The Friends of Fort York and Garrison Common

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The Friends of Fort York and Garrison Common

We are dedicated to supporting, preserving, enhancing and interpreting Fort York National Historic Site in Toronto, Canada.

The Friends of Fort York and Garrison Common is a not-for-profit organization with charitable status, founded in 1995, and supported by memberships, donations, grants and generous volunteers. We exist primarily to support Fort York National Historic Site in downtown Toronto and advocate its best interests. We are committed to the well-being of our neighbourhood too. What We Do:

In the mid-1990s,

we were instrumental in shaping the plan adopted by City Council that defined what became Fort York Boulevard and added several acres of open space to the fort's precinct. Since then, we have expanded our role to support programming at Fort York. Convinced of the need to rebuild an active military presence at the fort which had been a casualty of budget cuts in the early 1990s we took over responsibility for the Fort York Guard from the City in 1999, and founded the Fife and Drum Corps the following year. Not only do we recruit, train and outfit annually the 20 to 25 young men and women who make up these squads, but we also cover their wages. In the realm of city planning we have advocated safe, open connections under the Bathurst Street bridge when it is rebuilt, and strongly supported the City's position in urging Metrolinx to lower the Georgetown rail corridor at Strachan Avenue. We successfully opposed plans to elevate the Front Street extension on columns, like the Gardiner. We lost the case we took to the OMB to prevent changes in the Official Plan to allow taller buildings south of the fort. Our Precinct Advisory Committee meets regularly to keep abreast of current planning issues in the Fort York precinct. We publish a quarterly electronic newletter The Fife and Drum, which reaches a readership of about 2500. We support the efforts of the staff through exhibits, programs, live interpreters, and historic settings to encourage a new level of understanding about the War of 1812 era and Fort York's role in the founding of the Town of York in 1793 and the development of the City of Toronto since that time. Membership:

With membership comes free entry to the fort, a discount on items purchased at the gift shop, and our publication, The Fife and Drum, a quarterly newsletter. Joining The Friends is as easy as completing and submitting a membership form or joining us online: www.fortyork.ca

08/13/2026

Members of the Fort York Guard demonstrating musket firing on the parade ground at Fort York National Historic Site. In 2026, the Fort York Guard is representing the 3rd Regiment of York Militia during the War of 1812. Like other Upper Canadian militia regiments, members of the York Militia, raised in York County (present-day Toronto and surrounding area) balanced military service with their civilian occupations, answering the call when required to defend their community.
(Photo: A. Stewart)

08/11/2026

Fort York Guard demonstrations by a new version of the Guard -- representing the 3rd York Militia...

The excitement continues at Fort York National Historic Site with a full lineup of engaging summer experiences!

Catch daily site tours, check out the historic kitchen and experience of the return of historic musket demonstrations by the Fort York Guard! Experience new hands-on textile and laundry demonstrations that explain how uniforms were made, washed and dried!

📅 August 5 – Sept 6

🧵 Textile Demonstration:
⏰ 12:30 p.m.

🧺 Laundry Demonstration:
⏰ 2:30 p.m.

💂 Musket Demonstrations:
⏰ 11:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m. & 3:30 p.m.

08/10/2026

The excitement continues at Fort York National Historic Site with a full lineup of engaging summer experiences! Catch a daily site tours, check out the historic kitchen and experience of the return of historic musket demonstrations by the Fort York Guard! Visitors can also enjoy a new hands-on drop-in demonstrations exploring 19th-century cloth production, washing, and mending, offering a unique perspective on everyday life before modern conveniences.

Browse the exciting experiences and public art installations produced by the City of Toronto in collaboration with local communities. Connect with arts and culture at Toronto History Museums and Cultural Centres. These creative and historic spaces have something for all ages, including art exhibits,...

07/27/2026

This season, the Fort York Guard (pictured at Spadina House) is officially representing the 3rd Regiment of York Militia. One of three militia regiments raised in York County (present-day Toronto and the surrounding area) during the War of 1812, it was composed of local citizen-soldiers who were called out for the defence of hearth and home. Men from the regiment's flank companies saw active service at Detroit and Queenston, and the whole regiment was call out during the American attack on of York in April 1813.

Like other Upper Canadian militia regiments, its members balanced military service with their civilian occupations, answering the call when required to defend their community. (Photo courtesy of Toronto History Museums).

07/18/2026

The City of Toronto is taking steps to repurpose heritage land into a basketball training facility.

401 Fleet Street, also known as the Gore is currently a parking lot and home to a Heritage Listed 1924 pumping station building. Instead of joining it to the existing Fort York heritage space and surrounding parks, it will be leased for a $1 a year and made into a training facility.

What are your thoughts on this development?

Read the full article in the Toronto Sun.

07/17/2026

The City is planning on leasing a public space for $1 a year to allow for a basketball practice facility.

The project, at 401 Fleet Street, is currently a parking lot and home to the 1924 Heritage Listed pumping station. It sits on the area around historical Fort York and Exhibition Place.

What are your thoughts on this proposed plan?

A city committee is likely to sign off on a 40-year lease for Toronto’s WNBA team, which would pay $1 a year for a parcel of land. Read on.

07/09/2026

92 years ago this month at Fort York, Toronto... the return of the mace:

At a ceremony in July, 1934, the mace of the Parliament of Upper Canada seized by the US invaders in 1813 was returned to Ontario on the initiative of President Franklin Roosevelt. Here Lieut. Governor Herbert A. Bruce accepts the artifact from Rear Admiral William D. Leahy of the U.S. Navy. Leahy, a trusted advisor to Roosevelt, was later the most senior U.S. military officer on active duty during World War II. From 1942 until his retirement in 1949, he was the highest-ranking member of the U.S. military, reporting only to the President.

CEREMONY TO RETURN THE MACE, FORT YORK
4 JULY 1934
Toronto Culture, Stewart Album, X_1734_2_137

07/04/2026

“Canadians have been consuming American propaganda for so long that it is natural for us to think of Trump as a vile and extraordinary exception to the rule, to see his predecessors as virtuous men governing a benevolent and dynamic society, presiding over the global transmission of democracy, hamburgers and Disney cartoons.

“But that is not how ancestral Canadians saw the revolutionaries. They considered them to be terrorist lunatics, given to tarring and feathering their political opponents, torturing them in the streets, and stealing land that did not belong to them.

“In a way, Trump exemplifies a long American tradition. He is more vulgar than his predecessors, but his warlike ways are entirely aligned with the ambitions of the founding fathers, who dreamed of conquest and subjugation.

“…The revolution the Americans are celebrating was an act of aggression against the peoples who founded our country, and in the 250 years that followed, the people north of the border have made a more peaceful society. It is not “anti-American” to remember that we rejected their entreaties, repelled their invasions, and did not have plantation slavery, large massacres of Indigenous people, mass lynchings or a civil war.”

-- excerpted from “Trump is closer to the vision of America’s founding fathers than Canadians think” by Stephen Maher, The Toronto Star, 4 July 2026
Image: ‘American Progress’, painting by John Gast, 1872

06/30/2026

The Canadian Tank Museum in Oshawa is on a roll... with events and demonstrations this summer and restoration of two newly-acquired First World War-era armoured vehicles. https://tankmuseum.ca/
Photo (Ontario Tank Museum): An Ontario Regiment (Tank) crew drives a Renault M1917 during a public demonstration of their training tanks in Oshawa, 1940.

Address

250 Fort York Boulevard
Toronto, ON
M5V3K9

Website

http://www.fortyork.ca/

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